Chinese Ship entered and anchored Cebu Malapascua for more than 1 month undetected by the Philippine Authorities

Authorities took custody yesterday of 24 Chinese crewmen after their cargo ship was seized while anchored near a marine sanctuary in Cebu for the past 33 days, allegedly without informing the government of their arrival in the country.

Commodore William Melad, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Central Visayas district commander, said that the 19,998-gross ton M/V Ming Yuan, a Hong Kong-flagged bulk carrier built in 2007, has been staying in the country since May 19 but failed to notify the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Melad admitted that it took some time before the Chinese crew cooperated with authorities because it did not immediately allow the PCG personnel, accompanied by officers from the BI, BOC and the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ), to board their ship yesterday morning.

"They would not allow us to board. Normally, they would lower the accommodation ladder. But we insisted, so finally they allowed us to board the ship. We properly identified ourselves on radio that we are from the Philippine Coast Guard and we have the BOC and BI with us. Maybe there was just a miscommunication at the beginning of the discussion," Melad added.

It took them about two hours to convince the foreigners to allow them to enter the vessel and another two hours of ship inspection before they were told to transfer to another site where they would be better monitored by the PCG.

He explained that the Ming Yuan was a commercial vessel and normally when they enter the country they should have a notice of arrival to the corresponding agencies such as the BOC, BI and the PPA.

The problem is there was no notice of arrival and the ship has been here since May 19, he said.

The Chinese were in the area between Malapascua Island and Carnasa Island.

The ship was anchored in the area, a famous beach area and dive spot located near a marine sanctuary.

Melad admitted that this was the second time that they boarded the ship.

Last week, they entered the ship's premises but it was for port state control purposes where they only checked the seaworthiness of the vessel. The ship passed the inspection.

But at past 4 a.m. yesterday, the officers from the four different government agencies again approached the vessel anchored some 5.3 nautical miles off Malapascua Island.

"So (at 6 a.m.), we found out that they had no notice of arrival so definitely there is a violation here. The Bureau of Immigration confiscated their passports and seaman's book because they did not ask permission to enter (the country)," the PCG official said.

The Chinese nationals are not allowed to leave their ship.

Melad also believed that the ship should not be staying near Malapascua so the PCG escorted them to another anchorage area for foreign vessels specified by the PPA, which is located in the northern part of Cebu where there is a PCG detachment that could guard the Chinese ship.

The PCG also learned that the Chinese ship plans to go to Leyte where the vessel owner was reportedly looking for clients and cargo to transport.

When they checked the ship, it appeared that they had not yet found any client since the cargo hold was empty.

He also wondered why the vessel was anchored in Cebu, which was in Region 7, when their intended client was in Region 8.

The latest seizure of the Chinese ship came at a time when the Philippines and China are embroiled in a territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea.

Last April, 12 Chinese crewmembers were ordered arrested and detained after their vessel ran aground at the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea.

PCG Cebu commander Weniel Azcuna said on the first week of June, local fishermen and officials of Malapascua reported to the PCG the arrival of the foreign cargo vessel.

Azcuna said that the captain of the Ming Yuan informed the PCG that the vessel came from Taipei, Taiwan before the ship stopped in Malapascua en route to Isabel, Leyte.

Azcuna said the ship captain claimed that the Ming Yuan was supposed to pick up cargo in Leyte but since it was not yet ready, the crew chose to temporarily stay in Malapascua.

Azcuna said that the owner of the vessel would have to pay fines to the BI and customs bureau for not notifying the agency of their presence.

He clarified that the PCG deals more with ship safety.

"It's a newly built ship, so when we conducted the inspection, there was no violation detainable to the coast guard," said Azcuna.

The PCG vessel 3502 escorted the Ming Yuan yesterday to the port in Hagnaya, Cebu.

Meanwhile, in a separate inspection by local executives, Logon barangay chairman Rex Novabos, Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) president, said he has sent the Bantay Dagat Team as well as policemen to the area to check on the activities of the Chinese ship.

Novabos said they checked if the ship has a hose used to extract sand after some residents reported that the vessel could be extracting sand from coastal areas.

"This is mostly the activity of most stranded ships in our island, which is to get white sand and transport it to another beach. But due to language barrier, we were not able to talk to the crew," he said.

Novabos said the team reported that there was no hose and they did not find any sand on board while crewmembers were painting the vessel floor. –

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The Philippines is really a joke... are we a country or not? Aquino let us see BLOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We want to see Fresh BLOOD!!!

Delima, I warn you! You recommend Philippine Coast guard for Criminal Charges for Taiwanese Poachers Entering out territory.. Are you pinoy or taiwanese.. How could these Philippine Coast Guard do there Job if you will push them and charge them with criminal offense if they will do their job,,,, you are a piece of shit

These is how china took several tons of gold from the Philippines without tax.

they will dock anywhere and find their contacts in the Island and order them to load the tons of gold, pangolines, birds, anything from the philippines and send to hongkong TAX FREE...

PCG, wake up baby,.... If the Philippines will not change.. we want the Philippines to be a separated into 6. Batanes, Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, Palawan, ARMM.

If the Philippines is not effectiv in any way, why should we unite as 1 country? lets separate and solve our problem separately... its nonesense to have system like this.

relax dude, do you want another sanctions? you dont know that these chinese are always doing provocative move against us, they are just waiting an excuse to invade us. think wisely dude, we are not ready for the war.

do you think this intermittent "invasion" does not have the blessing of the local officials or could this be a prelude by China to invade the Phils? remember the warnings made by China " Phillipines should be teach a lesson"its a warning not to be taken lightly its a handwriting in the wall!! GISING MGA PINOY! unahin bitayin ang mga local officiALS na ibinoto nyo,mga makabagong uri ng TRAYDOR sa bayan sarili muna bago bayan ang inisip

This chin ks it might just unload the arms for the communist rebels why undetected and what are this authorities doing why this ship can inter in Philippines un notice?Just ask your good government tuwid na daan if someone is not involved with this ship.why this ship 33days with out notice can anchor inside Philippines.

Small countries like Vietnam,Phillipines,Malaysia should stop squabbling amongst themselves and instead combine forces to stand up to China.If they do not do this then they will lose all their land to the dragon.regards.larsingIndia

Whatever will happen, Nuke is not really allowed. Even if China would throw their Nukes and all people in Luzon will die, Visayas and Mindanao is not allowed to revenge using nuke.. that is the rule!..so sa maka una lang... UN will just sanction China if they will do like that but it ends up to that... the bottom line is .. it is needed to be the most powerful so that no one will bully and kill your race.

china will not use their nukes to us, if they use it, they are saying "we also want to be Annihilated". because if they use it, the world community will become their enemy, the other nations will also use nukes on china. china will use nukes if there are no more cards in his hand, his nukes will be his final card, if war is happen.

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